Hey everybody! Ryan and I had a very nice weekend. On Saturday we went with Ryan's boss's family to a little fishing village about an hour from Yokohama. We went shopping in the fish market there and saw some pretty cool dead fish and other things we could not identify. For dinner we had some sushi in a local joint and then headed home.

Sunday we met my cousin, Kevin and his super cute girlfriend, Aki in Tokyo and hung out for the day. We walked through this park and saw some awesome street entertainment. We saw the next up and coming superhero, a group of middle aged men dancing to the American rock and roll of the 50's and 60's. Their hairdos were insane. We saw groups of teenagers who dress up as Japanese animated characters. I guess it is similar to the Trekkie's of the USA.

. Tokyo's version of a county fair I suppose. Let me just say that the Japanese festival was a little more interesting and a bit more civilized than our typical tracker pulls, guess my weight games, tattoo laden, chicken wing eating crowds that fill up our dumpy fairgrounds. Instead they had lanterns lit up everywhere and groups of students carrying mini versions of sacred temples/shrines through a parade. Many of the men, women and children were wearing traditional dress. The food stalls were very interesting. You could get anything from fish on a stick to chocolate covered bananas.

After the festival we had some Japanese food in this nice place Aki chose. Then we went for drinks and some bar style snacks at this place under a bridge that Kevin chose. You were given a trash bag to put your bags in and you sat on little stools at tables put together out of crates. It was a hang out for Japanese men after work. Pretty cool to catch the real local vibe going there. I had some more of that yummy plum wine and Ryan and Kevin drank some sake.

My cousin Tara comes to Tokyo tomorrow so we will all be meeting downtown again. I cannot believe three Cooney cousins all in Tokyo, Japan in the same week! What fun!